Privacy
First we had only the front side of the postcard on this website. We found it however more then interesting to have the backside published as well. There are a lot of postcards with more then interesting facts being written on that back. Showing more then only, in views, a inside-look of the different countries. It's also warm to read that for countries from which we didn't expected it, we see people writing how they love their country, "their home sweet home". It's good to think about this. It changes your perception and opens your mind.
BUT by showing the backsides we gave away the messages which were maybe only for Elke...for that reason, and for protecting the senders for whatever 'bad' people we "painted" away all personal information as address, e-mail, phone number, last-name, etc ...
If anybody of you recognizes his send card and finds it inappropriate to show their card on this, or any other way, please contact us at hemelshoek at yahoo dot com. We take care of it immediately.
BUT by showing the backsides we gave away the messages which were maybe only for Elke...for that reason, and for protecting the senders for whatever 'bad' people we "painted" away all personal information as address, e-mail, phone number, last-name, etc ...
If anybody of you recognizes his send card and finds it inappropriate to show their card on this, or any other way, please contact us at hemelshoek at yahoo dot com. We take care of it immediately.
Think about the world
"It's just a postcard, no? Yes indeed, and this made us think about the world: people which we reached by our mail maybe had something else on their mind then sending a postcard to a complete stranger at the other side of the world. People maybe have to struggle with illness, poverty, hunger, war, catastrophes... it all made us sometimes difficult to push the send button. We hesitated several times ... but you know what? From those who reacted, they are so glad we didn't forgot them, they are all so proud on their country. This project made us think about their, our, world ... and ... wasn't that a little bit my goal by start collecting those postcards: learning a lesson on which, I hope, Elke will grow in her awareness of everything outside our safe hometown Berlaar" (Wim (Elke's dad))
Spam ? Cooperation !
"We found out quickly that we had to contact people out of the blue because our personal contacts will never go worldwide. Over the years we contacted a few thousand (!) people with an open mail: apologizing first for contacting them unsolicited, presenting ourselfs honestly and asking if they would like to cooperate with Elke's project. Is this spamming? it was unsolicited:yes, but it wasn't bulkmail: we knew name, surname and the function they were presenting themselves on the www and they all get a personalized mail. It is, after all these years, good to know that, really nobody send us a mail back with complaints of any kind. Every postcard-sender had an 'thank you'-reply (including a picture from Elke holding their send card) ... it was fun for us to do and appreciated strongly from the senders. (Wim (Elke's dad))